Rat-trap.



I. COOK.

' RAT TRAP. APPLICATION FILED JUNE I2. I9I4.

1,163,587. Patented Dec. 7, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I COLUMBIA PLANouRAPM co.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

1. COOK.

RAT TRAP.

APPLlcAnoN r1LED1uNE12,1914.

1,163,58?. Patented Dec. 7, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Il I/ COLUMNA PLANOGRAPN C0., WASHINGTON, DA C.

Unirnii Sterns 'i1 rairr3NT oFFiCE. f -i g JIM COOK, OF SWINK,.OKLAHOMA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTHTO J. IVI. AND J. lll-IERI), a l

ONEFOURTI-ITO A. 13.'.ANDLALLEN 'TALLIE ANDQONlE-FQURTH TO A; D. TALLIE, p

ALL orswmx, OKLAHOMA." f i Blair-TRAP.y

i specication of Leitersr a,1;ent.y Patnted Bec, 7,1915 1 e Applicatie; mea teneis, i914. seeming. `344,711.; 1

l/ all Iwhom 'it 'may concern Be it known that I, JIM

i of the United States, residingtatSwink, in

` declare the following 4to 'be a full, clear," and exact description yof the invention, ysuch 'as will enableothers skilled'in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same; u

This invention relatesto trapping devices,

y particularly to a "trap for "rats, mice andthe like, and has for its obJect the provision of a novel device whereby ratswill be caught andsxnothered therein yuntil removed from the trap the operator. p 'y y .n

An important object is ythe provision of i a trapsof this character` which avoids the use of bait and, operatesfon the plan of a pitfall.'v i

Other objects and advantagesy such as simplicity, cheapness in manufacture,eiiiciency 1n servicek and "the'general improvement of the art, will becarefully brought out lin the following description and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 yis aside elevation of the` trap, Fig. 2 Ais a top plan View,Fig.l3 yis avertical sectional view on the line `of Fig. 2. Fig. '4 is a vertical sectional view on'the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, Fig. 5` is a vertical sectional view on the line 5 of F ig.`2, yand Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 66 of Fig. 1.` y u f Referring more particularly to the drawing my device comprises a pitfall portion which may be ypreferably associated ,with a run way for leading the rats toy the trap.

The pitfall portion comprises front and back' walls 11 and 12 and side walls 13 and 14 secured upon a bottom 15. vRevolubly'v mounted between the side walls 13and 14 is a platform 16 provided upon its ends with trunnions 17 journaled through the side walls. Plates 18 are hingedly secured as at 19 upon the front and back walls 11 and 12 and have their free edges conforming to and disposed adjacent the sides of the revoluble platform 16. The platform 16 is weighted so that it will normally be disposed in a horizontal position. The plates 18 Vare normally held in a horizontal position alined with the platform 16 by means of coil springs 20 con- Cooii, ya citizen nected adjacent their freefedges and con? nected with the front and back walls 11 and 12`,`an`d yare yprevented from undesired upward movementby stops 21. When ythe rat steps upon either ythe' platform 16 or therv plates `18lthese memberswill swing down wardly and causefthefrat to fall into the space inclosed bythe walls 11, 13 and 14.

An upwardly inclined inclosed runway 2? communicates kwiththe space and comprises `front and back walls 24 and 25 and side walls 26 yandv 27 4conneci/:ed at their lower ends with the bottom 15. The top of the runway 23 is closedfby a vplate28 and its side wall 26 is provided with an opening 29 communicating with a vertically disposed l chamber 30 formed by front andback walls 31and yand side.-walls33 and 34 and proy vided with'a top 35. After the rathas fallen in the chamber 22 vhewill ascend through the inclined runway 23 and will rpass through an outwardly swinging trap door 36 hingedly secured as .at y37 upon thesideBS and normally closed by a coil spring 38 secured to'theredge of the door 36 and to the wall ofthe run way. yDisposed Vwithin kthe chamber 30 is a. downwardly swingingtrap door 39 normally heldin its uppermost position engaging stops 40y by a coil lspring 41. Disposed belowandspaced from the trap door 39` is a similar trap door 42 normally held in'its uppermost position against stops 43 lby a coil spring 44. lVhen therat passesk through the trap door 36 he will` fall upon the trap door39 which will give way and let himv fall into. the ,space r45 between the trap4 door 39 and the .trap door42.` The spring 41 is sufficientlyr light that the trap]v door'39 willi-giveV way under fthe weight of one ratwhereas the spring 44 is suiiiciently heavy that itr 'willL require the weight-` 47 below` the trap-door42 from which they may be removed through an opening 48 Y'in the wall 32. The rats do not follow into Athe said compartment 45 in rapid succession,

therefore each rat will consume the oxygen llet into the compartment 45 by his entrance i into the same before the advent of the next the rat in the compartment 30 toy attempt to climb upwardly on the platform 39 as it is the tendency for an animal to climb thus under these conditions. At this time the lower end of the platform 39 bears against theV bodies ofthe dead rats in the compartmentv 45 and Vpushes theplatform 42 downwa'rdly. When this platform 42 reaches such position that the rats will be precipitated therefrom, these ratsof course drop into the compartment 47 and at this time the `angle of inclination of the platformBS) is such that the fifth rat will drop into the compartment 45. However, the precipita tion of the rats from the platform 42 re quires but an instant and therefore the spring 44 will return the platform 42 tojits initial position before the lfifth rat reaches the position of the platform and consequently the said fifth rat will be maintained in the compartment 45.

It will be readily understood that the device mayl be made preferably of lsome such vmaterial as galvanized iron or wood lined with tin or sheet iron so that the rats cannot gnaw through any part of the device. It is absolutely essential thatvthe chamber 45 be formed positively air-'tight so that rats will be smothered in a very short time.

From the foregoing description and a study of the dra-wing it will be apparent that I have thus provided a simple and eflicient trap for catching rats and mice which So far as will be positive inY operation, quiclrin action and self-controlling'.

It will be readily understood that I reserve .the right tomake various changes in the form, construction and arrangement of parts' as willnot depart .from thel spirit of the invention or limit the scope of the suboined claims.

` Having thus described my invention,I claim: Y

l. A trap comprising a horizontal casing, a revoluble trap door journaled'in said casing and forming the top thereof, a runway communicating with said casing, a second Vcasing communicating with-said runway, a spring closed trapy door disposed' between said runway and said second named casing at their pointof communication, and a pair of spaced 'downwardly opening trap doors hinged within said second named casing and forming with said Acasing an air tight chamber, the lowermost of said pair of trap doors being openable by the weight of a plurality of rats to deposit said rats within the bottom of said second named casing.

2. A' trap comprising a horizontal casing,

spring pressed plates hinged within said casing, a revoluble platejournaled in said casing and Vforming with said plates the top of the casing, a runway communicating withV air tight closure, the spring of said upward trap door allowing said upward trap door to open under the weight of one rat and the spring of said lower trap door being openable by the weight of a plurality of rats.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature, in the presence of two witnesses. Y

l JIM COOK.

Witnesses:

J. E. HERB, i A. D; TALLY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ofla'tentg f Washington, D. C. 

